The approach does not require tuning any solver settings. This also reduces RAM and disk consumption. It is worth noting that OMNIS™ allows the user to combine and run structured and unstructured meshes in the same computation, taking advantage of the intrinsic speed advantage of using structured meshes and of the robustness of the unstructured ones. Meshing only one blade, combined with such a matching connection, led to a two-fold cell count reduction with the corresponding simulation speed-up.īoth meshes were then assembled together and a rotor-stator interface was set up between the two domains. Also, a matching periodic connection between two periodic faces was automatically ensured and computed. A variable tip gap was applied to the blade. This approach makes it very easy and fast to generate a high-quality structured mesh with multiple grid levels. AutoGrid uses a wizard-type approach for meshing various types of turbomachinery configurations with different characteristics, such as centrifugal pumps, axial compressors, etc. One blade of the propeller was meshed using multiblock structured mesh generator OMNIS™/AutoGrid. This leads to a high-quality mesh, sufficiently robust to be used for an optimization. OMNIS™/Hexpress automatically refines the mesh near high curvature areas and edges, thus minimizing user interaction and engineering time. New blade geometry model (Span length = 0.1095m, Root chord = 0.0051m, Tip chord = 0.0036m)Ĭomputational domain indicating assigned boundary conditions and internal connectionsĭue to the complexity of the drone domain, an automatic unstructured mesh was generated using OMNIS™/Hexpress. The chosen domain definition represented a practical case, corresponding to “free air” simulation at a hovering altitude that is high enough to neglect any ground effect. The setup benefited from the symmetry of this drone geometry: only one-fourth of the drone needed to be included in the computational domain, hence only one arm. An appropriate twist distribution was provided to make sure the parametrized blade resembled the original geometry as close as possible. Multiple sections were extracted from the original geometry and stacked together in order to build the 3D blade. The propeller blade was modelled with Cadence parametric modelers, taking into account the required thrust. Weerasinghe, University of the West of England. The considered drone geometry and its dimensions. Drone manufacturers for the private consumer sector (amateur video shooting, racing drones, drones for kids, etc) predominantly rely on this type of configuration. The model used here was provided by the authors of. The studied geometry corresponds to the most widely used rotorcraft drone configuration today: the quadcopter geometry. The case study presented in this article demonstrates the aerodynamic simulation and optimization of an industrial quadcopter drone in hover mode, the most energy intensive mode of this type of drone. It’s Nonlinear Harmonic model (NLH) has proven to be a cost-effective solution for unsteady simulations up to two orders of magnitude faster than the conventional methods. The application of Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) techniques and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in particular can help to significantly improve the efficiency of drones and extend their flight time and range.Ĭadence’s fully integrated multiphysics CFD environment OMNIS™ paves the way for faster, more accurate quadcopter simulations, combining structured and unstructured meshing solutions with the fastest CFD solvers on the market within one platform. Only very few conventional electric multicopter drones in the high-end class, can reach flight times close to 1 hour. Even modern and innovative electric drones have a limited flight time of around 20-30 minutes depending on flight conditions. On the other hand, multicopters also have inherent shortcomings, the most important one being their limited flight time and range. This makes them particularly suitable for unique applications like indoors operations, maneuvering in wind turbines and construction site inspections to name a few.Įxamples of commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or drone configurations Rotorcraft drones offer important advantages over the fixed-wing systems, such as their ability to hover (maintain a constant altitude) and the fact that they are easier to control and operate. There are two main categories of aerial drones: rotorcraft capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOLs) and fixed-wing vehicles. In the past decade, their use has been soaring and their annual growth rate is anticipated to exceed 50%. Drones have proven to be an efficient solution for a large range of applications within the military, industrial, and private consumer domains.
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